“Eternal Love. Live to love”

30.01.2014

“Eternal Love. Live to love”

On February 8th and April 19th Helikon-opera theatre presents the new program “Love Forever”. Thanks to famous businessman and philanthropist Mikhail Kusnirovich soloists and artists of the theatre will appear on the stage, dressed in Bosco di Ciliegi attires to deliver a spectator to an atmosphere of romanticism, live sound and classics of XX century. This evening the star hits by “The Beatles”, “Queen”, Marylin Monroe, Barbra Streisand, Whitney Houston, “The Platters”, Roy Orbison, Demis Russos, Tina Turner, Adriano Celentano will be performed.
This project isn’t the first experience of collaboration between Moscow Variety Theatre and Helikon-opera. The creative friendship of two theatres started as soon as Gennady Khazanov headed Variety Theatre. On the 13th of January 1998 Helikon-opera presented its “Die Fledermaus” by J. Strauss. This very evening Gennady Khazanov improvised Johann Strauss, having achieved great likeness with the composer. Joseph Kobzon sang “Epitalame” by A. Rubinstein and Aleko’s aria, Viacheslav Voinarovsky pretented to be Pavarotti. The performance was filmed by TV center company.

And then the new project by the two Moscow theatres. The old songs found its new sound, performed by soloists, choir and orchestra of “Helikon-opera”. The arrangements were made by the famous composer Kirill Umansky, a laureate of the BBC contest, the first contest of contemporary Russian composers on YouTube, the winner of “The Golden Mask” prize for his new orchestra edition of Nikolay Sidelnikov’s “Running” opera. Umansky works both with the academic collectives and rock bands and thinks there is nothing impossible for a symphonic orchestra. “The orchestra melts everything”.

“I am happy we have this concert and I am proud of the troupe”, says Artistic Director of “Helikon-opera” Dmitry Bertman, “I think, there’s no such a troupe around the world. This is the biggest prize in my life in general. It is hard to imagine the same artists sing “Boris Godunov”, “Eugene Onegin” operas. Such a reincarnation not just into the role, but into the genre, into different music. I am very grateful to them. Helikon-opera artists are a big collection of rarities, and I feel myself to be Pavel Tretyakov. Thank you very much!”

Just before another performance we have talked to the composer and author of the arrangements Kirill Umansky:

– Kirill, please, tell us how you got the idea of such a unique project, as “Love Forever”?
– Dmitry Bertman wanted to make a synthesis of variety art and symphonic hits and their classical, in some way, operatic incarnation. Personally, I tried to reach the monumental sound, make it more firm, to add more volume to the distinctive features of melodies, harmony and style, using the wonderful resources of singers. I tried to show the music through a magnifier, so that the expression and lyricisim of the songs could be more bright, because these qualities are lost nowadays. The pathos is to remind people how they sang songs about love in the past.
– What was the most difficult and complex during preparation of the arrangements for the hits, which the whole world likes?
– The most responsible was to keep the specific of the authentic material, all the pecularities of harmony and texture, to create the conditions, at which opera singers could stay themselves, but at the same time reincarnate into Elvis Presly or Barbra Streisand on a certain level. Also it was interesting to find in authentic sound the possibility for a special kind of a intensification by the orchestra in the initial phonograms,in originals.

For example, to underline the supressed, but zealous sound of the stacatto basses in grand piano’s part, I added tuba’s staccato and bells, which are four octaves higher than tuba, giving an undertone similar to light reflex.
It was also important to add the part of the chorus into all songs. The chorus always make sound monumental, but it needs to be done very correctly, so that it would coincide with the son’s image.

– Do you think the opera singers achieved access in this new image?
– Helikon’s opera singers are very artistical and mobile. Perhaps, it is connected with the fact that many of them still do not have an academic lustre of classical opera singers. They all could change and reincarnate into a certain level, since Dmitry Bertman didn’t require to play the game “one in one”. They all could keep the happy medium.

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It is necessary to say, that all soloists of the theatre, who take part in “Love Forever” concert, underline that they not only love music, which they perform in the context of this project, but also feel comfortably in it. Natalia Zagorinskaya, the performer of “My heart will go on” from “Titanic” and “Une vie d'amour” by Charles Aznavour confessed that she simply adores this music.

A laureate of international contests, the participant of the second season of the “Big opera” project, Alexey Isayev, who sings “Delilah” by Tom Jones says: “This song is absolutely mine, it has a lot of upper notes, it is full of passion, the person suffers from pain and betrayal... I like songs of this kind!”

The People’s Artist of Russia Gennady Khazanov, Artistic Director of the project said: “For us it was very important to make this project. The space, where Helikon had found a shelter, doesn’t fit the possibilities of the troupe. And Variety Theatre always needs projects of high level of culture. I really hope, this program will have success among public and that’s the program will be a part of Variety Theatre’s repertoire.